I can't seem to get it quite right. When I was little we had a laundry shoot, so my parents never had to deal with it.

We have two full baths upstairs and the bedrooms are all up there too. The washing machine and dryer are two floors down, in the basement. Dh showers in the master bath and dd and I bathe in the other bathroom because it has a tub. Both bathroom are very small, but I fit a hamper in the master bath. It is a two section hamper sectioned by mesh bags hung by velcro and nothing bigger will fit. I don't like having dirty laundry in our bedroom, even in a hamper. The other bathroom is a weird rhomboid shape so no room for a hamper in there.

The hamper we have annoys me because towels don't ever fit in there and the velcro attachments to the mesh bags always fall off.

I know you mentioned you do not like a hamper in the bedroom, but they make very attractive baskets now with a washable liner and lid that unless you look inside of it, does not even resemble what a hamper should look like. I have a cedar stand w/ a drawstring bag for the downstairs laundry, and upstairs I have the wicker basket in each room..I try to stay on top of it.. the only one who's laundry is usually needing immediate attention is youngest ds...and I have a seperate plastic hamper for him in the bathroom in case there's something wet, which there usually is.. i am sure you can get a drawstring bag big enough to fit inside these baskets, and all you'll have to do is take the bag out when they are full...hope this helps you

Do you have a closet you can stick it in? Our master bedroom is upstairs with my bathroom, ds's room and dh's bathroom are downstairs on the same level as the laundry room. I hope that makes sense. I put two of the collapsible baskets (they are square, mesh and fold flat) in ds's closet (it's huge). One is black for colors, one white for whites. Ds does better at sorting than dh! I just keep one basket in our bedroom for my stuff(in the closet), I pretty much was all of our things separetly anyway.

Would putting the baskets in the hallway outside the bedrooms or bathrooms help?

Our laundry system wouldn't be much help. My toddler was obsessed with taking the tubing stand that held up our laundry bags, so we had to put that away because he would run around using the tubes as bats. Then we pulled out our old laundry hampers...he pulled all the clothes out ALL THE TIME! So now, we pretty much just put anything with chemicals or stuff we don't want him messing with in our closed up bathroom with the diapers and let him "sort" all the rest of our laundry on the bedroom floor. lol. When he gets a bit older I will try and get it back to a reasonable state, but it is so not worth it right now.

I'm doing laundry right now....I still don't have a perfect system...but I'm now putting a basket in dd's closet for her clothes, a basket in my room for ds who doesn't have a room yet, and well, dh and I keep a hamper by the basement door...it's not very attractive...but I"m not losing as many socks that way! :

My laundry room and the bathroom are on the main floor and all of the bedrooms are upstairs. The kids usually change in the bathroom downstairs, so I have them throw all of their clothes at the back door of the kitchen (it leads through a little hallway and into the laundry room). I keep the back door locked (so the baby won't go into the laundry room and play with anything), so I don't mind a little pile there. When I see stuff in "the dirty pile", I just scoop it up and take them out to the laundry room to sort. I have 3 stackable plastic containers that have flip lids out there (lights, darks and white/reds). I had my husband screw them into the wall becasue they kept falling over. I do also have a hamper in the bathroom, but that is for towels only. Then there is the dirty diaper basket, but that is in the dining room, under the table (we do changes there, as we never really use that room).

Our house is smaller so it probably helps, but here's our easy system.

We have one hamper, period. It's on a frame in the laundry room and has 3 hanging bags. I have them labeled "white" "blue/black/purple" and "all other colors." People are responsible for putting their own clothes in the appropriate hampers. Even dd does it! When the hamper is full, I wash it that day.

We only wash bath towels once a week. They dry fast in AZ and anyway, what's the sense of washing a towel that's just been used to dry off a clean person? So once a week I'll gather and wash the towels, same with sheets.

Darshani

7yo: "Mom,I know which man is on a quarter and which on is on a nickel. They both have ponytails, but one man has a collar and the other man is naked. The naked man was our first president."

Our laundry is downstairs in the basement. Here's my system- courtesy of my super organized sister. Two laundry baskets in the closet for dirties- take the basket down, dump it in- there's the basket for the clean ones to come back up. That's it.

For diapers- I have two PUL pail liners- haul one down, throw it in with diapers- bring up the other one that was drtying over a broom handle from the last wash and we're ready to go again.

We have a small house...no hampers, no baskets. When you take off your clothes, they go in the laundry room. I do have to do a bathroom run each morning for clothes and towels that might not have made it that far...

You mean there's a system? Actually, I try to put everything in the laundry room because if I didn't , it probably wouldn't get done. DH can't find the laundry basket (ahem...it's 5 feet from where he drops his clothing....sigh. The things I do for him.... )

My last house I rented, the W/D was in the garage. Awful!! I bought my new house, and the laundry area is off the kitchen. Not that bad, but not my favorite place. At least I have A/C in my laundry room. It was always humid in the garage. I vowed my next house would have a laundry room by the bedrooms next time, with a door, so no one can see. And I get it!! I am moving into my new house next summer. I am so excited. I am also getting 2 dryers. WHY 2 DRYERS?? I can be done with my wash hours before drying ever gets done. And with almost 6 kids, I have alot of wash!! When I saw the interview/Dateline Special with that couple that had 7 kids in Iowa (McCauley's?), I saw their laundry room, and they had 2 sets of W/D's. It was awesome. Hubby said he will get me 2 dryers.

I only wash on Wednesday's. Sometimes I have to do an extra load of scrubs for DH, but that's ok. Wednesday's are wash days, and Jason Deli's night...all kids under 12 eat free!!

This is what I would want to if I have a large family. I have seen it at several hotels I have worked at. Usually it isn't exactly double, but there are often more dryers than washers....like 2 washers for every 3 dryers.

We have a drawstring bag on a foldable cedar frame in our upstairs hallway outside the bathroom door. All dirty clothes go there. Every morning after everyone is dressed, I find it full -- I fold the frame with bag still attached, carry it down to the laundryroom and sort into 2 drawstring bags on plastic frames set up between our washer and dryer. One is lights, and the other is for darks. Then I put the empty hamper back upstairs, folded against the wall until bathtime that evening when we need it for dirty clothes.

Beside the dryer, I have a table with 5 baskets set up. Pretty much each day, the laundry goes from the bags to the washer to the dryer (or drying rack) and then sorted into the baskets by person. Once a week I fold the baskets and put the clean clothes away.

Wow! This is boggling!!! I guess its why I only have one kid!!!
I have one laundry basket. It's in our bedroom closet. When it gets full, I sort, and wash whichever load is fullest. Darks, colors, or lights. The small loads go back into the basket till later. Towels and sheets get pulled and washed once a week. We have one washer outside! And no dryer. Tricky during the rainy months, but not too bad.....It's not really an issue, but could be with more kids....